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this. in ny too. i was really trying not to be a homer. that steelers team is one i really hope we can avoid the rest of the way. they are a much different team then they were week 1 (though we are as well). However, big ben is playing like a top 5 qb, that oline of theres is finally somewhat decent, great depth at wide receiver and a great underrated tight end in heath miller, and if they can have their rbs healthy, a strong running game. of course they bring it on defense, but i think that offense might actually be better than their defense this year, which is a scary thought. big ben and tomlin know how to win and that team is getting better each week. scary team for sure. afc is coming down to who i believe wins each division, houston, pats, broncos, and the steelers.

Should be interesting to see how Carolina fry's to attack our defense
If our ends keep containment we should be able to win.
in other news I lost in my fantasy league by .1 points fml talk about Monday night heart attack

Definitely a scary *** game. Nothing scares me more than the mobile QB..and Cam can go bonkers stepping up and taking off for huge yardage when we leave that big *** opening when Von and Doom come from the sides.

It's going to take a magnificent scheme and excellent discipline from our defense to keep Cam in the pocket and control everything else.

Do not underestimate them..

yeah but it seems that atleast during the last game that jdr was sending von on more inside blitzes which was completely destroying the pocket. i think this needs to happen again cause our dt's are not good enough to collapse the pocket on the insides by themselves.

the thing we have going for us is that cam gets rattled easily and can be erratic. if we are able to get pressure on him its all over on the defensive side as far as im concerned.

That's a big if. There have been times this season where the pass rush just disappears.

In fact, and these are just random opinionated values, I believe 65% of our sacks are directly due to our coverage. 30% due to Von Miller and his incredible skills, and 5% everybody else (Doom/Wolfe..etc).

We rely heavily on our coverage to get our sacks. The only guy who can blow it up in an instant is Von Miller..and they are doubling him all the time. Doom needs extra time..Wolfe needs a lot of time.

Now granted..some folks can say coverage and pass rush go hand in hand..but our coverage is excellent imo. It pulls more than half the share of our sacks.

At least around reporters. He declined an interview request Wednesday, as he has all season. But around defensive tackles? Those he will take on.

Ramirez will be taking on a good one Sunday in Dwan Edwards, an eight-year veteran who already has a career-best five sacks through eight games in his first season with the Carolina Panthers.

Ramirez will replace the injured Chris Kuper at right guard Sunday when the Broncos begin the second half of the season at Carolina.

At least the challenge is not the first for Ramirez. He started the first five games this season in place of Kuper, who was out with a broken left forearm.

"He's a very good player," Kuper said of his replacement.

"Nothing to worry about."

There has to be some concern, because Kuper is one of the best interior pass protectors in the league. In the three games Kuper started, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning never was sacked. In the five games Kuper didn't play, Manning was sacked 10 times.

Not that Kuper was the only reason Manning stayed clean in the previous three games and Ramirez was the problem in the first five.

"There have been some different guys in there playing, and whoever's been in there stepped up to the plate, so I'm grateful for their effort," Manning said. "Those guys practice well. We spend a lot of time together talking during meetings, watching film together. The one thing between a quarterback and his offensive line is constant communication. You're always talking. We treat practice like a game, treat meetings like a game where we're constantly talking, trying to be on the same page, especially when you play on the road."

I like Manny, I believe we'll be fine. His main issue, imo, has been his penalties. Yea, he has given up 3 sacks and 4 QB hurries but all that came in the first 3 games where EVERYONE was getting accustomed to each other. I believe he'll be just fine.

This may be the first of Eric Decker's three seasons in the NFL when he is on track to be all he can be as a wide receiver. His 46 receptions and seven touchdowns lead the Broncos, and his seven scores have come over the past five games. He's doing all this after carrying a large question mark while recovering from a left foot injury when he arrived in Denver in 2010 as a third-round draft pick.

"It wasn't until my second year here I started to feel good, had my strength, that I wasn't thinking about it, it wasn't hurting after practice," Decker said. "It was about a year and a half after the injury."

The injury ended Decker's final season at Minnesota and pushed him down, or off, some team's draft boards. He had suffered a Linsfranc injury — a fracture or dislocation of the small bones in the mid-foot — in the fifth game of his senior season with the Gophers, a season he still finished as his team's leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns.

It's an injury that can be notoriously tricky to treat and heal, especially at a position where speed and quickness are at a premium. Decker still was recovering when the Broncos made him the 87th pick of the draft, and still trying to regain his form as his second NFL season opened in 2011.

"Reading studies (after a surgery), there was mixed results as far as people coming back or not coming back," Decker said. "It was something obviously on my mind, but I knew that I couldn't control that, so what I had to do was key in on my rehab and making sure I was doing what the doctors told me to do, what the training staff told me to do and just focus on that."

He had a difficult rookie season, catching only six passes. "You try to find your way with a new team, try to establish yourself, (but you've) got the foot injury and I'm definitely not as strong, not as fast, afraid I'm going to hurt it, a lot of things."

Decker, 6-foot-3, 218 pounds, finished with 44 receptions last season and felt better as the season progressed. However, his production went down after a strong start. Thirty of his receptions came before the Broncos went to a read-option offense with Tim Tebow at quarterback. Decker had only 14 receptions over the final nine games. This season, good health, a future Hall of Famer at quarterback in Peyton Manning and the new offensive playbook that came with him have converged for a possible 1,000-yard season.

With half a season to play, Decker's 16 career touchdowns in his first three seasons are more than any player the team has signed as a rookie.

"Right now, I see a big body, a big athlete, a good football player, a smart football player who understands what Peyton is looking for, what he's looking at," Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. "I think any time you have that rapport with a quarterback and a receiver, you can have that success."

Decker was one of the regulars who participated in workouts with Manning after Manning signed with Denver and before the players were allowed to practice at the team's Dove Valley complex.

Manning has tried to work as often as possible, in as many situations as possible, with all of the Broncos' receivers in order to build rapport.

Over the course of the season's first half, Manning has targeted Decker a team-leading 69 times, with Demaryius Thomas second at 65.

The two also lead all receiving duos in the league with a combined 1,339 yards — 756 for Thomas and 583 for Decker.

"Experience is your best teacher," Manning said. "You learn what certain guys like as a receiver, how his body moves, when he's going to come out of a break. The more repetitions the better."

"I think, obviously, all the work you do — individually, extra, as a team — has paid off," Decker said. "Peyton grabs everybody, and we all work on it together. That's something that's finally paying off.

"I think any relationship, whether it's a significant other or a teammate, the more time it gets, it helps."

DP

Oh and Porter is going to be out..again. If folks didn't know already.

I like Manny, I believe we'll be fine. His main issue, imo, has been his penalties. Yea, he has given up 3 sacks and 4 QB hurries but all that came in the first 3 games where EVERYONE was getting accustomed to each other. I believe he'll be just fine.

lol hes only started 5... so really hes only awful 60% of the time. im pulling for him, but im not confident in his abilities and im scared to see him out there. and our oline was the exact same as last year so im not as easy to excuse him for his horrendous performances.

ramirez didnt play bad when kuper was out. And to be hinest the entire oline started the season a bit shakey. With the veteran koppen next to him getting him where he needs to be our oline will be fine. Ramirez is the type of backup you want on a team at guard. Hell fill in fine for 3 weeks as kuper gets healthy again. Lets not forget he is a good run blocker but average pass protection guy. And I think well look to dominate carolina run defense which sucks along with there pass rush that sucks. So this is a good game for him to get back in the mix